Nikkei ends flat, snaps 8-day rally on U.S.-China trade war fears

TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Japan’s Nikkei ended flat on Friday, snapping an eight-day rally after U.S. President Donald Trump said he is ready to quickly ratchet up a trade war with China, rattling Asian markets.

The benchmark index hit the psychologically important mark of 23,000 this week, but failed to stay above that level at the market close.

The Nikkei gained 1.2 percent for the week and 1.4 percent for the month.

Bloomberg News reported that Trump is prepared to quickly ramp up a trade war with China and has told aides he is ready to impose tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period on the plan ends next week.

Markets had expected the tariff move in late September, which in theory provided room for further negotiations between Washington and Beijing.

“Investors do not want to take positions now as there is news related to trade friction, one after another. There is a possibility that markets will be rocked again,” said Fujio Ando, senior managing director at Chibagin Securities.

He said losses were limited by expectations that the Bank of Japan may buy exchange-traded funds to support the market, as it has often done in the past.

Analysts also said that weaker emerging market currencies had dampened the risk sentiment among investors.

On the positive side, Electronics device maker Fujitsu Ltd rose 1.7 percent after the company said it would buy back up to 22 million of its own shares, or 1.08 percent of its outstanding shares, worth up to 18 billion yen.